particular is onely this that he cannot conceive how such things can be performed which onely argues the weakness and imperfection of our knowledge and apprehensions not the impossibility of those performances and we can no more from hence form an Argument against them then against the most ordinary effects in Nature We cannot conceive how the Faetus is form'd in the womb nor as much as how a Plant springs from the Earth we tread on we know not how our Souls move the Body nor how these distant and extreme natures are united And if we are ignorant of the most obvious things about us and the most considerable within our selves 't is then no wonder that we know not the constitution and powers of the Creatures to whom we are such strangers Briefly then matters of fact well proved ought not to be denied because we cannot conceive how they can be perform'd Nor is it a reasonable method of inference first to presume the thing impossible and thence to conclude that the fact cannot be proved On the contrary we should judge of the action by the evidence and not the evidence by the measures of our fancies about the action This is proudly to exalt our own opinions above the clearest testimonies and most sensible demonstrations of fact and so to give the Lie to all Mankind rather then distrust the little conceits of our bold imaginations But yet further 3. I think there is nothing in the instances mention'd but what may as well be accounted for the Rules of Reason and Philosophy as the ordinary affairs of Nature For in resolving natural Phaenomena we can only assign the probable causes shewing how things may be not presuming how they are And in the particulars under our Examen we may give an account how 't is possible and not unlikely that such things though somewhat varying from the common rode of Nature may be acted And if our narrow and contracted minds can furnish us with apprehensions of the way and manner of such performances though perhaps not the true ones 't is an argument that such things may be effected by creatures whose powers and knowledge are so vastly exceeding ours I shall endeavour therefore briefly to suggest some things that may render the possibility of these performances conceivable in order to the removal of this Objection that they are contradictions and impossible For the First then That the confederate Spirit should transport the Witch through the Air to the place of general Rendezvous there is no difficulty in conceiving and if that be true which great Philosophers affirm concerning the real separability of the Soul from the Body without death there is yet less for then 't is easie to apprehend that the Soul having left its gross and sluggish Body behind it and being cloath'd onely with its immediate vehicle of Air or more subtile matter may be quickly conducted to any place it would be at by those officious Spirits that attend it And though I adventure to affirm nothing concerning the truth and certainty of this supposition yet I must needs say it doth not seem to me unreasonable And our experience of Apoplexies Epilepsies Extasies and the strange things men report to have seen during those deliquiums look favourably upon this conjecture which seems to me to contradict no principle of Reason or Philosophy since Death consists not so much in the actual separation of Soul and Body as in the indisposition and unfitness of the Body for vital union as an excellent Philosopher hath made good On which Hypothesis the Witches annointing her self before she takes her flight may perhaps serve to keep the Body tenantable in fit disposition to receive the Spirit at its return These things I say we may conceive though I affirm nothing about them and there is nothing in such conceptions but what hath been affirm'd by men of worth and name and may seem fair and accountable enough to those who judge not altogether by the measures of the popular and customary opinion And there 's a saying of a great Apostle that seems to countenance this Platonick opinion what is the meaning else of that expression Whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell except the Soul may be separated from the Body without death which if it be granted possible 't is sufficient for my purpose And 2 The Transformations of Witches into the shapes of other Animals upon the same supposal is very conceivable since then 't is easie enough to imagin that the power of imagination may form those passive and pliable vehicles into those shapes with more ease then the fancie of the Mother can the stubborn matter of the Foetus in the womb as we see it frequently doth in the instances that occur of Signatures and monstrous Singularities And perhaps sometimes the confederate Spirit puts tricks upon the senses of the spectators and those shapes are onely illusions But then 3 when they feel the hurts in their gross bodies that they receive in their aery vehicles they must be supposed to have been really present at least in these latter and 't is no more difficult to apprehend how the hurts of those should be translated upon their other bodies then how diseases should be inflicted by the imagination or how the fancy of the Mother should wound the Foetus as several credible relations do attest And 4 for their raising storms and tempests they do it not be sure by their own but by the power of the Prince of the Air their friend and allie and the Ceremonies that are injoin'd them are doubtless nothing else but entertainments for their imaginations and are likely design'd to persuade them that they do these strange things themselves And lastly for their being suck'd by the Familiar I say 1 we know so little of the nature of Daemons and Spirits that 't is no wonder we cannot certainly divine the reason of so strange an action And yet 2 we may conjecture at some things that may render it less improbable For some have thought that the Genii whom both the Platonical and Christian Antiquity thought embodied are recreated by the reeks and vapours of humane bloud and the spirits that derive from them Which supposal if we grant them bodies is not unlikely every thing being refresh'd and nourish'd by its like And that they are not perfectly abstract from all body and matter besides the reverence we owe to the wisest antiquity there are several considerable arguments I could alledge to render it exceeding probable Which things supposed the Devil 's sucking the Sorceress is no great wonder nor difficult to be accounted for Or perhaps 3 this may be onely a diabolical Sacrament and Ceremony to confirm the hellish covenant To which I adde 4 That which to me seems most probable viz. That the Familiar doth not onely suck the Witch but in the action infuseth some poisonous ferment into her which gives her imagination and spirits a magical tincture
A PHILOSOPHICAL ENDEAVOUR Towards the Defence of the Being OF WITCHES AND APPARITIONS In A LETTER To the much Honoured ROBERT HVNT Esq By a Member of THE ROYAL SOCIETY LONDON Printed by I. Grismond for Iames Collins at the King's Arms in Ivy-Lane 1666. Some CONSIDERATIONS About WITCHCRAFT In A Letter to the much Honoured Robert Hunt Esquire SIR THE late and frequent dealings you have had in the Examination of Witches and the Regards of one that hath a very particular and deserved Honour for you have brought you the trouble of some Considerations upon the subject in which you have so critically convers'd that perhaps may suggest to your better thoughts a way of accounting for some of those strange things you have been a witness of and contribute to the Defence of the Truth of Matters which you know by Experiments that could not deceive against the little exceptions of those that are resolved to believe nothing in affairs of this nature If any thing were to be much admired in an Age of Wonders not onely of Nature which is a constant Prodigy but of Men and Manners it would be to me matter of Astonishment that Men otherwise witty and ingenious are fall'n into the conceit that there 's no such thing as a Witch or Apparition but that these are the creatures of Melancholy and Superstition foster'd by ignorance and design which comparing the confidence of their disbelief with the evidence of the things denied and the weakness of their grounds would almost suggest that themselves are an argument of what they deny and that so confident an Opinion could not be held upon such inducements but by some kind of Witchcraft and Fascination in the Fancy And perhaps that evil Spirit whose influences they will not allow in Actions ascribed to such Causes hath a greater hand and interest in their Proposition then they are aware of For that subtil Enemy of Mankind since Providence will not permit him to mischief us without our own concurrence attempts that by stratagem and artifice which he could never effect by open ways of acting and the success of all wiles depending upon their secrecy and concealment his influence is never more dangerous then when his agency is least suspected In order therefore to the carrying on the dark and hidden designs he manageth against our Happiness and our Souls he cannot expect to advantage himself more then by insinuating a belief That there is no such thing as himself but that fear and fancy make Devils now as they did Gods of old Nor can he ever draw the assent of men to so dangerous an assertion while the standing sensible evidences of his existence in his practices by and upon his Instruments are not discredited and removed 'T is doubtless therefore the interest of this Agent of darkness to have the world believe that the notion they have of him is but a phantasm and conceit and in order thereunto That the stories of Witches Apparitions and indeed every thing that brings tidings of another world are but melancholick Dreams and pious Romances And when men are arriv'd thus far to think there are no diabolical contracts or apparitions their belief that there are such Spirits rests onely upon their Faith and Reverence to the Divine Oracles which we have little reason to apprehend so great in such assertors as to command much from their assent especially in such things in which they have corrupt interests against their evidence So that he that thinks there is no Witch believes a Devil gratis or at least upon such inducements which he is like to find himself disposed to deny when he pleaseth And when men are arrived to this degree of diffidence and infidelity we are beholden to them if they believe either Angel or Spirit Resurrection of the Body or Immortality of Souls These things hang together in a Chain of connexion at least in these mens Hypothesis and 't is but an happy chance if he that hath lost one link hold another So that the vitals of Religion being so much interressed in this subject it will not be impertinent particularly to discourse it And in order to the proof that there have been and are unlawful confederacies with evil spirits by vertue of which the hellish accomplices perform things above their natural powers I must premise that this being matter of Fact is onely capable of the evidence of authority and sense And by both these the being of Witches and diabolical contracts is most abundantly confirm'd All Histories are full of the exploits of those Instruments of darkness and the testimony of all Ages not onely of the rude and barbarous but of the most civiliz'd and polish'd world brings tidings of their strange performances We have the attestation of thousands of eye and ear-witnesses and those not of the easily deceivable vulgar onely but of wise and grave discerners and that when no interest could oblige them to agree together in a common Lie I say we have the light of all these circumstances to confirm us in the belief of things done by persons of despicable power and knowledge beyond the reach of Art and ordinary Nature standing publick Records have been kept of these well attested Relations and Epocha's made of those unwonted events Laws in many Nations have been enacted against those vile practises those among the Iews and our own are notorious such cases have been often determined near us by wise and reverend Iudges upon clear and convictive evidence and thousands in our own Nation have suffered death for their vile compacts with apostate spirits All these I might largely prove in their particular instances but that 't is not needful since those that deny the being of Witches do it not out of ignorance of these Heads of Argument of which probably they have heard a thousand times but from an apprehension that such a belief is absund and the things impossible And upon these presumptions they contemn all demonstrations of this nature and are hardned against conviction And I think those that can believe all Histories are Romances that all the wiser world have agreed together to juggle mankind into a common belief of ungrounded fables that the sound senses of multitudes together may deceive them and Laws are built upon Chymera's that the gravest and wisest Iudges have been Murderers and the sagest persons Fools or designing Impostors I say those that can believe this heap of absurdities are either more credulous then those whose credulity they reprehend or else have some extraordinary evidence of their persuasion viz. That 't is absurd and impossible there should be a Witch or Apparition And I am confident were those little appearances remov'd which men have form'd in their fancies against the belief of such things their evidence would make its way to their assent without any more arguments then what they know already to enforce it There is nothing then necessary to be done in order to the establishing the belief I
whereby they become mischievously influential and the word venifica intimates some such matter Now that the imagination hath a mighty power in operation is seen in the just now mention'd Signatures and Diseases that it causeth and that the fancy is modified by the qualities of the bloud and spirits is too evident to need proof which things supposed 't is plain to conceive that the evil spirit having breath'd some vile vapour into the body of the Witch it may taint her bloud and spirits with a noxious quality by which her infected imagination heightned by melancholy and this worse cause may do much hurt upon bodies that are impressive by such influences And 't is very likely that this ferment disposeth the imagination of the Sorceress to cause the mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or separation of the soul from the body and may perhaps keep the body in fit temper for its re-entry as also it may facilitate transformation which it may be could not be effected by ordinary and unassisted imagination Thus we see 't is not so desperate to form an apprehension of the manner of these odde performances and though they are not done the way I have describ'd yet what I have said may help us to a conceit of the possibility which sufficeth for my purpose And though the Hypothesis I have gone upon will seem as unlikely to some as the things they attempt to explain are to others yet I must desire their leave to suggest that most things seem unlikely especially to the conceited and opinionative at first proposal and many great truths are strange and improbable till custom and acquaintance have reconciled them to our fancies And I 'le presume to adde on this occasion though I love not to be confident in affirming that there is none of the Platonical supposals I have used but what I could make appear to be fair and reasonable to the capable and unprejudic'd But I come 3 to another prejudice against the being of Witches which is That 't is very improbable that the Devil who is a wise and mighty spirit should be at the beck of a poor Hag and have so little to do as to attend the errands of the impotent lusts of a silly old woman To which I might answer 1 That 't is much more improbable that all the world should be deceiv'd in matters of fact and circumstances of the clearest evidence and conviction then that the Devil who is wicked should be also unwise and that he that persuades all his subjects and accomplices out of their wits should himself act like his own temptations and persuasions In brief there is nothing more strange in this objection then that wickedness is baseness and servility and that the Devil is at leisure to serve those he is at leisure to tempt and industrious to ruin And again 2 I see no necessity to believe that the Devil is always the Witch's confederate but perhaps it may fitly be consider'd whether the Familiar be not some departed humane spirit forsaken of God and goodness and swallowed up by the unsatiable desire of mischief and revenge which possibly by the laws and capacity of its state it cannot execute immediately And why we should presume that the Devil should have the liberty of wandring up and down the Earth and Air when he is said to be held in the chains of darkness and yet that the separated souls of the wicked of whom no such thing is affirm'd in any Sacred Record should be thought so imprison'd that they cannot possibly wag from the place of their confinement I know no shadow of conjecture This conceit I 'm confident hath prejudic'd many against the belief of Witches and Apparitions they not being able to conceive that the Devil should be so ludicrous as appearing spirits are sometimes reported to be in their frolicks and they presume that souls departed never re-visit the free and open Regions which confidence I know nothing to justifie For since good men in their state of separation are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why the wicked may not be supposed to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the worst sense of the word I know nothing to help me to imagine And if it be supposed that the Imps of Witches are sometimes wicked spirits of our own kind and nature and possibly the same that have been Sorcerers and Witches in this life This supposal may give a fairer and more probable account of many of the actions of Sorcery and Witchcraft then the other Hypothesis that they are always Devils And to this conjecture I 'l adventure to subjoyn another which also hath its probability viz. 3 That 't is not impossible but that the Familiars of Witches are a servile kind of spirits of a very inferiour constitution and nature and none of those that were once of the highest Hierarchy now degenerated into the spirits we call Devils And for my part I must confess that I think the common division of spirits much too general conceiving it likely there may be as great a variety of Intellectual creatures in the invisible world as there is of Animals in the visible and that all the superiour yea and inferiour Regions have their several kinds of spirits differing in their natural perfections as well as in the kinds and degrees of their depravities which being supposed 't is very probable that those of the basest and meanest Orders are they who submit to the mention'd servilities And thus the sagess and grandeur of the Prince of darkness need not be brought into question But 4 the opinion of Witches seems to some to accuse Providence and to suggest that it hath exposed Innocents to the fury and malice of revengeful Fiends yea and supposeth those most obnoxious for whom we might most reasonably expect a more special tutelary care and protection most of the cruel practices of those presum'd Instruments of Hell being upon Children who as they least deserve to be deserted by that Providence that superintends all things so they most need its guardian influence To this so specious an Objection I have these things to answer 1 Providence is a Deep unfathomable and if we should not believe the Phoenomena of our senses before we can reconcile them to our notions of Providence we must be grosser Scepticks then ever yet was extant The miseries of the present life the unequal distributions of good and evil the ignorance and barbarity of the greatest part of mankind the fatal disadvantages we all are under and the hazard we run of being eternally miserable and undone these I say are things that can hardly be made consistent with that Wisdom and Goodness that we are sure hath made and mingled it self with all things And yet we believe there is a beauty and harmony and goodness in that Providence though we cannot unriddle it in particular instances nor by reason of our ignorance and imperfection clear it from contradicting appearances and consequently
we ought not to deny the being of Witches and Apparitions because they will create us some difficulties in our notions of Providence But to come more close 2 Those that believe that Infants are Heirs of Hell Children of the Devil as soon as they are disclosed to the world cannot certainly offer such an objection for what is a little trifling pain of a moment to those eternal tortures to which if they die as soon as they are born according to the tenour of this Doctrin they are everlastingly exposed But however the case stands as to that 't is certain 3 That Providence hath not secur'd them from other violences they are obnoxious too from cruelty and accident and yet we accuse It not when a whole Townful of Innocents fall a Victim to the rage and ferity of barbarous executioners in wars and Massacres To which I adde 4 That 't is likely the mischief is not so often done by the evil spirit immediately but by the malignant influence of the Sorceress whose power of hurting consists in the fore-mention'd ferment which is infused into her by the Familiar So that I am apt to think there may be a power of real fascination in the Witch's eyes and imagination by which for the most part she acts upon tender bodies Nescio quis teneros oculus For the pestilential spirits being darted by a spightful and vigorous imagination from the eye and meeting with those that are weak and passive in the bodies which they enter will not fail to infect them with a noxious quality that makes dangerous and strange alterations in the person invaded by this poisonous influence which way of acting by subtil and invisible instruments is ordinary and familiar in all natural efficiencies And 't is now past question that nature for the most part acts by subtil streams and aporhaea's of minute particles which pass from one body to another Or however that be this kind of agency is as conceivable as any of those qualities ignorance hath call'd sympathy and antipathy the reality of which we doubt not though the manner of action be unknown Yea the thing I speak of is as easie to be apprehended as how infection should pass in certain tenuious streams through the air from one house to another or as how the biting of a mad Dog should fill all the bloud and spirits with a venomous and malign ferment the application of the vertue doing the same in our case as that of contact doth in this Yea some kinds of fascination are perform'd in this grosser and more sensible way as by striking giving Apples and the like by which the contagious quality may be transmitted as we see diseases often are by the touch Now in this way of conjecture a good account may be given why Witches are most powerful upon Children timorous persons viz. because their spirits and imaginations being weak and passive are not able to resist the fatal invasion whereas men of bold minds who have plenty of strong and vigorous spirits are secure from the contagion as in pestilential Airs clean bodies are not so liable to infection as are other tempers Thus then we see 't is likely enough that very often the Sorceress her self doth the mischief and we know de facto that Providence doth not always secure us from one another's injuries And yet I must confess that many times also the evil spirit is the mischievous Agent though this confession draw on me another objection which I next propose 5 Then it may be said that if wicked spirits can hurt us by the direction and at the desire of a Witch one would think they should have the same power to do us injury without instigation or compact and if this be granted 't is a wonder that we are not always annoi'd and infested by them To which I return 1 That the laws liberties and restraints of the inhabitants of the other world are to us utterly unknown and this way we can only argue our selves into confessions of our ignorance which every man must acknowledg that is not as immodest as ignorant It must be granted by all that own the being power and malice of evil spirits that the security we enjoy is wonderful whether they act by Witches or not and by what Laws they are kept from making us a prey to speak like Philosophers we cannot tell yea why they should be permitted to tempt and ruine us in our Souls and restrain'd from touching or hurting us in our Bodies is a mystery not easily accountable But yet 2 though we acknowledge their power to vex and torment us in our bodies also yet a reason may be given why they are less frequent in this kind of mischief viz. because their main designs are levell'd against the interest and happiness of our Souls which they can best promote when their actions are most sly and secret whereas did they ordinarily persecute men in their bodies their agency and wicked influence would be discover'd and make a mighty noise in the world whereby men would be awaken'd to a more suitable and vigorous opposition by the use of such means as would engage Providence to rescue them from their rage and cruelties at last defeat them in their great purposes of undoing us eternally Thus we may conceive that the security we enjoy may well enough consist with the power and malice of those evil spirits and upon this account we may suppose that Laws of their own may prohibit their unlicens'd infuries not from any goodness there is in their Constitutions but in order to the more successful carrying on the projects of the dark Kingdom as Generals forbid plunder not out of love to their Enemies but in order to their own success And hence 3 we may suppose a Law of permission to hurt us at the instance of the Sorceress may well stand with the polity of Hell since by gratifying the wicked person they encourage her in malice and revenge and promote thereby the main ends of their black confederacy which are to propagate wickedness and to ruine us in our eternal interests And yet 4 't is clear to those that believe the History of the Gospel that wicked spirits have vex'd the bodies of men without any instigation that we read of and at this day 't is very likely that many of the strange accidents and diseases that befall us may be the infliction of evil spirits prompted to hurt us onely by the delight they take in mischief So that we cannot argue the improbability of their hurting Children and others by Witches from our own security and freedom from the effects of their malice which perhaps we feel in more instances then we are aware of But 6 another prejudice against the belief of Witches is a presumption upon the enormous force of melancholy and imagination which without doubt can do wonderful things and beget strange persuasions and to these causes some ascribe the presum'd effects of Sorcery
or wish'd should be true but all fabulous and vain And they have no reason to object credulity to the assertors of Sorcery and Witchcraft that can swallow so large a morsel And I desire such Objectors to consider 3 Whether it be fair to infer that because there are some Cheats and Impostures that therefore there are no Realities Indeed frequency of deceit and fallacy will warrant a greater care and caution in examining and scrupulosity and shiness of assent to things wherein fraud hath been practised or may in the least degree be suspected But to conclude because that an old woman's fancy abused her or some knavish fellows put tricks upon the ignorant and the timerous that therefore whole Assises have been a thousand times deceived in Iudgments upon matters of fact and numbers of sober persons have been forsworn in things wherein perjury could not advantage them I say such inferences are as void of reason as they are of charity and good manners But it may be suggested further 9 That it cannot be imagin'd what design the Devil should have in making those solemn compacts since persons of such debauch'd and irreclaimable dispositions as those with whom he is supposed to confederate are pretty securely his antecedently to the bargain and cannot be more so by it since they cannot put their souls out of possibility of the Divine Grace but by the Sin that is unpardonable or if they could so dispose and give away themselves it will to some seem very unlikely that a great and mighty Spirit should oblige himself to such observances and keep such a-do to secure the soul of a silly body which 't were odds but it would be His though He put himself to no further trouble then that of his ordinary temptations To which suggestions 't were enough to say that 't is sufficient if the thing be well prov'd though the design be not known And to argue negatively à fine is very unconclusive in such matters The Laws and affairs of the other world as hath been intimated are vastly differing from those of our Regions and therefore 't is no wonder we cannot judge of their designs when we know nothing of their menages so little of their natures The ignorant looker-on can't imagine what the Limner means by those seemingly rude lines and scrawls which he intends for the rudiments of a Picture and the Figures of Mathematick Operation are non-sense and dashes at a venture to one uninstructed in Mechanicks We are in the dark to one another's purposes and intendments there are a thousand intrigues in our little matters which will not presently confess their design even to sagacious inquisitors And therefore 't is folly and incogitancy to argue any thing one way or other from the designs of a sort of Beings with whom we so little communicate and possibly we can take no more aim or guess at their projects and designments then the gazing Beasts can do at ours when they see the Traps and Gins that are laid for them but understand nothing what they mean Thus in general But I attempt something more particularly in order to which I must premise that the Devil is a name for a Body Politick in which there are very different Orders and Degrees of Spirits and perhaps in as much variety of place and state as among our selves so that 't is not one and the same person that makes all the compacts with those abused and seduced Souls but they are divers and those 't is like of the meanest and basest quality in the Kingdom of darkness which being supposed I offer this account of the probable design of those wicked Agents viz. That having none to rule or tyrannize over within the Circle of their own nature and government they affect a proud Empire over us the desire of Dominion and Authority being largely spread through the whole circumference of degenerated nature especially among those whose pride was their original transgression every one of these then desires to get him Vassals to pay him homage and to be emploied like Slaves in the services of his lusts and appetites to gratifie which desire 't is like enough to be provided allowed by the constitution of their State and Government that every wicked spirit shall have those Souls as his property and particular servants and attendants whom he can catch in such compacts as those wild Beasts that we can take in hunting are by the allowance of the Law our own and those Slaves that a man hath purchas'd are his peculiar goods and the vassals of his will Or rather those deluding Fiends are like the seducing fellows we call Spirits who inveigle Children by their false and flattering promises and carry them away to the Plantations of America to be servilly emploied there in the works of their own profit and advantage And as those base Agents will humour and flatter the simple unwary Youth till they are on Ship-board and without the reach of those that might rescue them from their hands In like manner the more mischievous Tempter studies to gratifie please and accommodate to those he deals with in this kind till death hath lanch'd them into the Deep and they are past the danger of Prayers Repentance and Endeavours and then He useth them as pleaseth Him This account I think is not unreasonable and 't will fully answer the Objection For though the matter be not as I have conjectur'd yet 't will suggest a way how it may be conceiv'd which nulls the pretence That the Design is inconceivable But then we are still liable to be question'd 10 how it comes about that those proud and insolent Designers practise in this kind upon so few when one would expect that they should be still trading this way and everywhere be driving on the project which the vileness of men makes so feisable and would so much serve the interest of their lusts To which among other things that might be suggested I return 1 That we are never liable to be so betraied and abused till by our vile dispositions and tendencies we have forfeited the tutelary care and oversight of the better Spirits which though generally they are our guard and defence against the malice and violence of evil Angels yet it may well enough be thought that sometimes they may take their leave of such as are swallowed up by malice envy and desire of revenge qualities most contrary to their Life and Nature and leave them exposed to the invasion and sollicitations of those wicked Spirits to whom such hateful Attributes make them very suitable And if there be particular guardian Angels as 't is not absurd to fancy it may then well be supposed that no man is obnoxious to those projects and attempts but onely such whose vile and mischievous natures have driven from them their protecting Genius And against this dereliction to the power of evil spirits 't is likely enough what some affirm that the Royal Psalmist directs